Vice President of the German Federal Youth Council / Deutscher Bundesjugendring (DBJR)
Marius, GermanyYoung people help in shaping our society every day. They want to take on responsibility and are capable of doing so. As experts for their own lives, they contribute decisive perspectives. Involving them in decision-making is an enrichment to our democracy.
As a scout, I have learned from a very early age how important it is to consider the needs of children and young people, for example when organising group meetings or planning camps. The best way to do this is to involve children and young people directly in the decision-making. Young people are experts of their own lives and, therefore, the best advisors when it comes to (political) decisions that touch their interests.
As a German EU youth representative (2017-2019), I have taken part in 6 EU Youth Conferences in order to give a voice to the results of the participation rounds of the EU Youth Dialogue. Here I learned that although the basic will to involve young people in politics exists in principle, there are still some problems in the concrete implementation. On the one hand, there is often a lack of knowledge of what "good youth participation" means in practice. On the other hand, unfortunately, there is often a lack of willingness on the part of politicians to involve young people seriously - because in the final consequence this means sharing power.
As the topic of youth participation (at the European level) is very close to my heart, I have run for Vice President of the German Federal Youth Council (Deutscher Bundesjugendring) in 2019. Deutscher Bundesjugendring is the policy-shaping umbrella structure of youth organizations in Germany and represents the interests of over 6 million young people and 53 youth organisations. As Vice President, I have the privilege of chairing the European Steering Group for the EU Youth Dialogue together with the German Ministry of Youth during the German EU Council Presidency. Here we are planning and steering the 8th cycle of the EU Youth Dialogue together with the National Youth Councils and Youth Ministries from Portugal and Slovenia, the European Youth Forum and the European Commission. It was important for me not only to criticise but to take responsibility and, therefore, to have the power of shaping the future EU Youth Dialogue in a joint effort.
Updated on Salı, 17/02/2026